UPDATE: Due to illness, the February 28 preview has been cancelled.
We apologize for any inconvenience, but we look forward to seeing you on another day!
Few plays have so honestly and emphatically represented a level of social interaction that we as Canadians would rather ignore. Thompson’s four characters are lowlife misfits as far as respectable community is concerned, but their interaction demonstrates a symbiotic relationship that is every bit as rich and complicated as those in more “elevated” circles. This is an exquisitely balanced piece of writing in which all characters equally drive the plot and equally share their lives with the audience. While Thompson won her first Governor General’s Award for a later play, this play – her first — is an achievement as impressive as anything that followed.
“The Crackwalker’s [characters] are mesmerizingly real. These people live with you.” —Globe and Mail
“Exudes vitality.” —Toronto Star
“This play established a reputation for playwright Judith Thompson as a daring chronicler of the urban underclass.” —Eye Weekly
The Walworth Farce
It’s 11 o’clock in the morning in a council flat on the Walworth Road. In two hours’ time, as is normal, three Irish men will have consumed six cans of Harp, 15 crackers with spreadable cheese and one oven-cooked chicken with a strange blue sauce. In two hours’ time, as is normal, five people will have been killed.
Direct from a critically acclaimed run in New York, this remarkable play by Enda Walsh delivers an achingly tender insight into what happens when we become stuck in the stories we tell ourselves about our lives.
Directed by Graham McDonald
Stage Manager: Karen Stack
Lighting Designer: Patricia Reilly
Set Designer: Michelle Ning Lo
Costume Designer: Staci Sten
“Ferociously entertaining” The New York Times
“Language that swaggers with vitality” The Guardian
“A theatrical experience that claws at the imagination
for days afterwards” Variety
THANK YOU TO OUR FUNDERS AND PARTNERS:
CVVMagazine.com, The CRD, The Province of BC through the Provincial Gaming Branch and The Fernwood Community Association
Blackbird
This play won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2007 and has continued to garner praise in Europe and North America. Inspired by the true story, it depicts the meeting between a young woman and a middle-aged man with whom, fifteen years earlier at the age of twelve, she had had a sexual relationship. The woman, Una, has been struggling to understand and come to terms with the affair and her conflicting emotions that shift between anger, curiosity, confusion, and attachment to the offender Ray. Ray, who has gone on to have a stable job and relationship, now has his life of stability potentially threatened. The situation forces him to examine his own past and present morality and self-conception.
“A drama that promises to be the most powerful of the season. Theater at its most elemental.” —The New York Times
Franz Kafka has been approached by a famous producer to start in a musical based upon himself. There are only two problems though: he can’t sing or act. But his participation will ensure a guaranteed hit! Murray Gold is an internationally acclaimed playwright and composer whose work has defined the mood of the current TV series Dr. Who. In this outing, Gold’s talents use the figure of Kafka to take us on a thrilling “hum-along” descent into madness. Just like Kafka we are kept guessing as to whether it is the main character who is coming apart, or whether he is the victim of a diabolical practical joke. Don’t be daunted by any preconceptions of the main character. Gold has made this musical romp accessible to all. At times funny, at times suspenseful, Kafka the Musical always demonstrates theatricality at its most entertaining. Originally commissioned by BBC as a radio play, we will be working personally with Mr. Gold in this world premiere stage adaptation.
“Blowing my heart as well as my mind with its superior writing, a poignant
story of love, death and regret that will haunt you.” —Radio Times